from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
David Perron had a good feeling about Dominik Kubalik as soon as the Detroit Red Wings newcomers went to dinner back in September.
"Him and I, in Traverse City at training camp, first guy I sat down with, had a beer, started connecting with," Perron said Sunday. "He was one of the first guys I got to know. Just kind of had a good vibe about him. I like his energy, I like the way he showed up to a new team in great shape playing some good hockey. We seem to have some chemistry on the power play for sure. He knows where to get open on the ice. Great goal by him."
Perron had just set up Kubalik in overtime to secure a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers, putting the Wings on a three-game winning streak headed into Tuesday's test against the Montreal Canadiens. What stood out at Madison Square Garden was how well the Wings played from start to finish, even after they got down by two goals in the first period....
"What’s great about this win is we just stuck with it, we didn’t change our game, we felt like we kind of made them change a little bit," Perron said. "Certainly ours was the same the whole way. That’s the way you win in this league on a consistent basis and if you lose, you can kind of be proud of what you did. It was a good win."
Alex Nedeljkovic came through with a big performance, rebounding from three subpar outings. Like his teammates, he has kept working hard, and waited for results.
"We have an identity we’re trying to form here and we’ve shown really good flashes of it this year and it’s just about doing it every single night," he said. "It’s a lot of confidence. When you beat good teams, it’s huge. We’re a young group, and to be able to go out and out-work teams, we’re playing the game the right way."
more (paid)
"Perron said Sunday. "I like his energy, I like the way he showed up to a new team in great shape playing some good hockey. We seem to have some chemistry on the power play for sure. He knows where to get open on the ice. Great goal by him."
I'd be a lot more upset about the way Copp has performed so far if Kubalik wasn't playing so damn well. He's not as proficient a sniper as Vrana, but he's got a really quick release and he plays at 100% all of the time. He might be the best signing of the summer if he keeps up both his scoring pace and his level of defensive play for the rest of the year.
Copp has 6 points in 12 games and is a plus 2. He hasn't been a liability on the ice. He was never going to be a 70 point player. He's been solid to me considering he missed all of camp. Go a little easy on him.
For $5.5mm per year, he should be a 70pt player.
For me, it was never that Copp was a bad player, the opposite, he's good, its that once this team is really competing on a stacked roster, he's 2-3 years older and clearly a 3rd line center for an organization that has plenty of depth at the 3C position.
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